Journal of the American Medical Directors Association
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Multicenter Study
Care dependency independently predicts two-year survival in outpatients with advanced chronic organ failure.
Previous studies suggest that care dependency may predict survival in hospitalized patients, but the prognostic value of care dependency in clinically stable outpatients with advanced chronic organ failure remains unknown. The objective of this study was to assess whether and to what extent care dependency predicts 2-year survival in patients with advanced chronic organ failure. ⋯ The level of care dependency independently predicts 2-year survival among clinically stable outpatients with advanced chronic organ failure. Therefore, regular assessment of the level of care dependency should be included in clinical care for patients with advanced chronic organ failure.
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To compare available instruments and investigate which best measure the quality of end-of-life care (QOC) and quality of dying (QOD) in long term care settings, in terms of validity, reliability, and feasibility. ⋯ We recommend the EOLD-SWC to measure QOC, and the EOLD-CAD and MSSE to measure QOD in populations with dementia and in mixed long term care populations of nursing home or residential care home/assisted living residents, because they performed best in both countries. Use of the same instruments allows for comparison of the results between studies.